ABL / Lasers Put Crowds on Wish List

The San Jose Lasers are getting hot just at the right time to make the most of the holiday season and the bump they hope it will give them in attendance.

The Lasers (7-4) have a three- game winning streak going into tonight's game at the San Jose State Event Center against the Philadelphia Rage (8-3), which features ABL founding member Teresa Edwards and also has a three-game winning streak on the line.

Jennifer Azzi, the Lasers' best- known player and another ABL founding member, needs just seven points in tonight's game to reach 1,000 in her ABL career. If she does, that would give the Lasers four women to have reached that plateau, the most in the ABL and a sign of San Jose's balanced attack.

The other three are Sheri Sam (1,331 points in 93 career games); Charlotte Smith (1,215, 91 games), and Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil (1,062, 83 games).

"That's still the No. 1 goal, to get the fans there and to have the league continue," Azzi said. "Obviously, the 1,000 points doesn't mean anything if the league doesn't continue. The players are very aware of that."

The holiday season will be especially important for the Lasers this year, given the continuing doubts about the ABL's long-term viability. The athletes are competing for public support as much as they are for wins and losses.

The Lasers have reacted to this need by scheduling some special events in the weeks ahead.

They will try to turn the December 27 game at the San Jose Arena into a celebration of the father- daughter bond with a promotion in which daughters can bring their fathers for half-off.

Unlike last season, when the Lasers played just five of their 22 games at San Jose Arena, this year they are playing half their games there, and they need to get creative about filling the place up.

"The whole father-daughter angle is a new one we're taking this season, and we find that it really resonates with a lot of our fans," marketing director Katie Ho said.

Overall, Ho said, the Lasers' season-ticket base has expanded by 30 percent over last season. Even so, the financial realities are such that if the holidays don't bring a surge in attendance, it could hurt.

The Lasers have come through with their end on the court, winning their past 11 games during the month of December, including 10 straight under head coach Angela Beck.

Whether that odd feat translates into continuing growth in attendance will depend on whether the people who cheered the ABL's first halting steps remember that now is when the league's future will be written, not in those first heady days.